This Is What Frances McDormand Meant by ‘Inclusion Rider’ at the Oscars

Chances are if you were watching the 2018 Oscars — like pretty much everyone else on the internet — then you saw Frances McDormand’s incredible acceptance speech for Best Actress. McDormand, who took home the honor for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri(a timely film for the #MeToo movement), invited all of her fellow female nominees across every category to stand up and share in the remarkable moment. Then she ended the speech with a piece of advice. “Two words,” McDormand said. “Inclusion rider.”

During her stunning speech, McDormand basically put out a call to action for Hollywood and her peers: “We all have stories to tell,” said McDormand. “Invite us into your offices and we’ll tell you all about them.” But the best moment was her figurative mic drop at the end, when McDormand offered two simple words of advice: “Inclusion rider.”

So, what the heck is an “inclusion rider”? Well, it’s basically what it sounds like, but here’s Dr. Phillip Goff, the President for the Center of Policing Equity, to lay it out for you:

And Dr. Goff is right. It is a brave thing to say on that stage, with most of the country watching. Once you understand what an inclusion rider is, McDormand’s speech becomes 10 times as awesome.

For some actors, it might have been a revelatory moment — particularly those with more visibility and higher status, like your Meryl Streeps and Sandra Bullocks. Here is a way for them to enforce diversity and increased visibility on productions for the women and women of color who are just waiting for someone to open that door. And in this climate, after that speech, which Hollywood executive is going to deny an actor who demands equality and diversity on a film set?